THOUGH the debate about the rightness
or otherwise of the use of external forces to check the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria has simmered down, it may be stoked with a planned
intervention of the United States (U.S.) in the crisis.

Apparently worried by the increasing
activities of Boko Haram not only in
Nigeria but in other African countries,
President Barack Obama and the U.S.
government are now taking the threat
posed by the group more seriously and they are already considering military
options, including the deployment of
drones and spy planes.

At the weekend, President Obama under War Powers Resolution of the U.S. Public Law, increased the number of American military personnel deployed to Nigeria’s border country, Niger, to 100, just about a week after the incoming Commander of the U. S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), Gen. David M. Rodriguez of the U.S. Army, confirmed that Boko Haram operations now cut across Nigeria, Cameroun, Niger, Mali and Chad.

U.S. local media had reported about the
same time that the deployment of U.S.
military to Niger is with the intention of
setting up a drone base to gather
intelligence without ruling out drone
attacks against terrorists in Mali and Nigeria. In an even more categorical statement, Gen. Rodriguez disclosed that the U.S. military already had sufficient legal authorisation to go after Boko Haram’s operatives in Nigeria or in the African region based on existing military authorisations against Al-Qaeda.

In a February 22 letter to the leaders of
the U.S. Congress, made available to The
Guardian yesterday, Obama confirmed
that by February 20, 2013, “the last
elements of a deployment of approximately 40 additional U.S. military personnel entered Niger with
the consent of the Government of Niger.” According to Obama in the letter he
personally signed, “this deployment will
provide support for intelligence collection and will also facilitate
intelligence sharing with French forces
conducting operations in Mali, and with other partners in the region. The total
number of U.S. military personnel deployed in Niger is approximately 100.
The recently deployed forces have …
weapons for the purpose of providing
their own force protection and security.”

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About beegeagle

BEEG EAGLE -perspectives of an opinionated Nigerian male with a keen interest in Geopolitics, Defence and Strategic Studies

True brother the manual has been there since reagan era,i told GEN BEEG a while back and the all laughed at me,bro more is yet to come just you guys learn how handle weapons that is my best advice.it is going to get uglier

Benjy32 the reagan era plan (1978) calls for the seizure of oil fields in Nigeria(there are 5 other countries on the list) in the event of a major/global war & given that majority of the oil is offshore .

If only we had a credible air defense system,we can shout till we are blue in the face they will surely come,and i expect to see our usual fire brigade approach to issues of national security once the drone strikes begin.

haa,we ar in a very big trouble,so we ar now going to join de pakistan pple,wot we nid now is simply to pay hackers to render dos drones useles lik china and iran do,and an early warnin radar and d S-300 air defence system.or mayb in country air defence cos dis boko haram issue is about to escalate(abeg mak every body wether xtain or muslim do fastin o,cos der americans ar d highest violators human right,life and values) or mayb dis is jst a dream.GOD FORBID BAD TING

YEEESSSSSSSSSS I SAID IT YESSSS SMIGUL depleted uranium welcome to nigeria,i have said it b4 but insulted here i don’t know what i am talking about,2015 break Nigeria into entities and share our resources just like Mali,Libya,iraq etc

How much does it cost to buy an Heron or Herm900 drones that the FG will sitdown and allow the US Air Force to deploy the MQ-1B Predator armed drones and the stealth RQ-4 Global Hawk in our backyard and even the rumour of deploying them on Nigerian soil.
Emotions aside,that US Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk is a Top-Secret Pentagon asset,it can overfly most of our cities in the night without being detected.It mostly fly on reconnaissance mission by night only.
Guys o! Our F-7 can not even see the Global Hawk with its inferior Skyranger radar,except by visual contact the pilot nor can our civilian TRACON radar network across Nigeria.
Honourable Senetors and Members of the NASS,do some thing before the assination drone may start kill our people,ask the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan what is happening their.
Way out,FG should issue a formal request of information(FRI) for the armed MQ-1B Predator to be acquired for the NAF,or for the Heron MALE or Hermes 900 drones from Isreal.

Meanawhila, we are still flying Chengdu F7 and feeling cool about it. Clearly, someone is acting out a script here…how will the Northern economy ever recover with drones firing at targets in Kaduna? Kano? Is this not a recipe for violent struggle in the North when the place becomes ungovernable?

Next they will say its a failure of Federal Government, institutionalised corruption, widespread poverty, etc, so self determination becomes the solution, breakup the unwieldy ‘giant’ and cart away the spoils? Since when have they been predicting the breakup of the country?

I pray that Abuja will read the handwriting on the wall and do the needful. Any nonsense drone that violates our airspace should rest in pieces. If we wanted to bomb Kano, NAF have enough bombs to do the job. We don’t, and we don’t need Bobo Rodriguez to do it on our behalf.

I don’t think anybody should be surprise about this,it been planned for long any keen eyes can see it,it was just a matter of when and the french intervention just sealed,why did you think Hollande and his boys didn’t wait for the UN timetable. Anyway all we will be hoping for is that our politichairs abi thieficains don’t just sit back and watch,before the situation esp in the north side go from bad to worst………tear already
Its just the issue of devil giving you one,know def that he will ask form triple xxxxxxx

Very few of us in this blog condemned the siting of US drone unit in Niger. While others claim it will boost intelligence gathering. Just imagine the insult insuniating that drone attacks is likely possible in the fight against terror in Nigeria. I saw this coming and i bliv as of now, it is far too late. Nigeria requested for assistance from US but It seems this is the form of assistance that suits them. Give us the equipment not to do our job. I forsee grt maybe in the north if any US Drone is sited let alone fires on suspected targets. The recent protest in nigeria just bcos of a. Movie insulting Prophet mohammed, tells us how northerner will react. GEJ pls do something now hence the trouble US attracts could be far greater than the unrealistics peace u need them to support. D battle ground will be in nigeria and no shot i repeat no shot will be fired into US.

Nature abhors a vacum – since the Government is not exhibiting the relevant political will to go all out and fight BH tooth and nail – then foreign powers will do the job-even if it means violating our territorial integrity/airspace.

Shebi our govt does not want to spend money on proper surveillance systems, Millitar Radars , intergrated air defence missile systems and competent air superiority fighters like the Su-27/30 jets.

Don’t be surprised if the French Special forces currently deployed to Cameroun in search of the kidnapped french family, suddenly launch a cross border rescue mission into Nigeria once they ascertain where BH are holding them. I am fairly certain that as we speak French and US drones are flying unchalleged over Northen Nigeria on reconnaisance missions.

Shebi our govt does not want to spend money on properly equipping our Navy with Frigates, Corvettes , Submarines, anti-submarine aircraft (like P-3 Orion), ocean going helicopter landing
platforms etc- because people in the corridor of power are making a fortune from oil bunkering. Point out any other oil -producing nation where this nonsense (oil-bunkering on a massive scale) happens? There is none. Pirates roam freely within our EEZ. Illegal fishing happens within our EEZ and yet we do nothing. So don’t be surprised if Western Navies decide enough is enough and come to police (by way of anti-piracy missions) our EEZ /Gulf of Guinea for us.

The idiotic politicians /people in govt in Abuja will proclaim that there is no problem and that our Millitary is capable of and will protect the country’s territorial integrity. With what equipment? They should wake up and smell the Palmy !! Nigeria we hail thee!!

Nigeria – British M16 Special Forces Arrive Abuja To Help Combat Boko Haram
A small number of UK special forces soldiers have arrived Abuja via a C17 military transport aircraft and are helping to co-ordinate and advise the Nigerian military effort against the islamists groups in the north.

They are part of a team of British military and MI6 personnel in the country who are providing support to Nigerian military commanders.

None of the special forces soldiers are being deployed in a combat role, sources insisted.

Sources have however revealed that the presence of M16 in Nigeria is connected to the capture of a british Setraco last week.

“The prime minister has made it clear that the help the UK will provide is of the intelligence and logistical variety,” said a Whitehall source, who did not want to be named.

Why are we wasting out time over spilled milk? Why are you begging FG when you all know the will do nothing. The bitter truth is this, FG do not give a dam if the drones are flying allover. As long as their purse is filled, nothing else matters. This is where problem will arise: any drone attack in the north, whether the hit is on BH or on innocent people, there will be serious issue in Nigeria and GEJ do not have the nerves to stop it.

Well Gentlemen, it’s time for the hawks, the real warriors in our armed forces to stand up and be heard.

I am not talking about a military coup. God knows that was a disaster for the military as an institution.

But these civilian politicians have been running a mock for years now, with complete impunity.

We have over 400 senators and representatives, and we only have senator Anyanwu, on the record as giving a damn about the horrid state of affairs, regarding our defense.

We know that the past history of excessive military interventions, have caused the armed forces to over compensate, and swallow whatever shit the politicians are dishing out.

While coups must never be an option, the armed forces must make known it’s displeasure at the state of affairs. Saluting incompetence and excusing the lack of action by greedy, irresponsible politicians, only makes the military equally culpable in the eyes of nigerians.

The military MUST FIND ITS LEGAL, INDEPENDENT VOICE UNDER THE CONSTITUTION AND EXERCISE IT VIGOROUSLY.

I hope that this is not about the pursuit of vainglory because it is sure to backfire spectacularly. I am not sure that these chaps have ever assessed the threat emanating from Nigeria, accurately. They do not quite appreciate the number of ready hirelings available to do this job. Perhaps they are so accustomed to light-skinned Arab terrorists to be able to assess anyone else.

However, the speed and resolve with which Ansaru have seized hostages in their support for Malian comrades should give a clear idea of what would happen when Nigeria and Nigerian muslims themselves are adjudged to be under attack.

Well, nobody in Nigeria could have stopped the Republic of Niger, in the exercise of her sovereign rights, from allowing the USA to set up a drone base in Niger. I said this previously citing the decades-long presence of the French all around us. That has since manifested for depth. Recall that when the French nationals were kidnapped in Cameroon, French gendarmes and special forces arrived from Chad, their secret police from Yaounde and a helicopter from somewhere in between. So I would rather not worry about the things that I cannot change.

Concerning the prospects of drone attacks in Nigeria, that would be ill-advisable at best, given the sharp cleavages which we endure as a people. Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Mali, Somalia and Niger which are over 90% muslim, Nigeria is split down the middle between Christians and Muslims. That makes religious contention to be cutthroat business here – interfering even in appointments, spread of projects, perceived aggression etc.

Nigeria is a country characterised by deep religious mistrust and violent activism is ingrained in the adherents – the Miss World riots, the Danish cartoons saga, agitation over the fate of muslims in Bosnia and Palestine, the 2011 post-election violence and attacks on christians over Jonathan’s defeat of Buhari, reprisal violence against muslims after BH suicide attacks in Jos and Kaduna, come to mind.

We have said before now that as a matter of natural mistrust, the West cannot expect to enjoy anything beyond 33-40% in approval ratings in northern Nigeria until the Middle Eastern Question has been resolved.

So here is the PLUG.

– ANY drone attack in the muslim Far North of Nigeria by US drones would galvanise moderate muslims and hardliners alike, against the US and provide an enlarged ideological playing field for Boko Haram and Ansaru in northern Nigeria.

– True to traditions of paranoic reactions, the first victims shall be Nigerian christians living in the muslim Far North and then, reprisal attacks shall follow elsewhere, chiefly in the South East and in the Niger Delta.

– Western interests shall be attacked in response and for that, little or no preparation is needed – experienced IED-making experts, suicide bombers, gunmen and hostage takers already abound and with the whole community galvanised in open support, they shall let lose indiscriminately.

– global jihadists shall then move in from Mali, Sudan, Libya, Algeria to help thicken the plot even further

– Nigeria, a cauldron, would become even more unmanageable and ultranationalists from the South and Middle Belt shall lend a strong voice to the anti-American symphony playing out. Indeed, in the South where America enjoy a headstart in street level popularity over all foreign powers, the diplomatic stocks of the USA shall nosedive. Do not be surprised to suddenly find Niger Delta militants, who see the under-development of their region as a manifestation of Western double standards and inseincerity, and Boko Haram+Ansaru speaking with one voice.

– Politically, an ACN which have seemingly provided more inspirational elected officials but are famous for using every plank as a political weapon and a CPC still smarting from its inability to grab power despite its huge grassroots support base in the muslim Far North, would join forces to provide political direction for anti-government protests and rhetoric.

– the cumulative effect of USA drone strikes, however well-intentioned, would leave this nation three times worse off than she is today. It is ill-advisable and an idea which is dead on arrival. It would principally serve to galvanise the energies of local religious extremists, global jihadists,enemies of the West and suck in ultra-nationalists in an ideological and combative free for all. It would be truly costly for the FGN of Nigeria and all the nations of the Western orbit. The media-led campaign of calumny against the JSTF would seem like child’s play in comparison.

The BEST BET and we have harped on this from the off, except someone is interested in acting out a vainglorious script, would be for the USA to place the tools in the hands of the Nigerian military instead. That way, people remain as they were – the familiar campaign of calumny against the JSTF in the Far North while Nigerians people elsewhere urge the FG to flatten any trouble spots if need be. There would be no ultranationalists and terrorists brainstorming in an unlikely conclave of strange bedfellows.

The problem is that the West love too much vein and double standards – a club in one hand and a handkerchief in the other. Turkey, Israel, Indonesia and Pakistan are serious human rights abusers yet they have F16s but with Nigeria, someone would say “security forces could use the weapons against innocent civilians”

How come it is that the USA and UK use human rights concerns to withhold military support from Nigeria yet fall over themselves angling for multi-billion dollar arms deals in Saudi Arabia where people still get beheaded for Friday street entertainment or in India where the security forces continue to be similarly indicted on account of rights abuses – from Kashmir to Orissa and beyond. Double standards?

So the only workable route which would not leave everyone in Nigeria up in arms against the West and the FG is to provide support for the Nigerian military – drones, protected patrol vehicles and MRAPs, light observation helicopters.

If the USA proceed with what is sure to amount to dalliance with folly, be prepared to come back to this page to read “Elsewhere, BEEGEAGLE wrote..”

” Moving on, we have said before now that NO NATO or EU country should send troops into any of the conflict zones of the Sahel lest they engender a gang-up by all militia groups in the wild neighbourhood which would have an escalatory effect on the conflicts.

What they can do is to provide training support in

*counterinsurgency operations
*counterterrorism
*desert warfare

In terms of hardware, we have always mentioned the need for defensive counterinsurgency hardware. That stand has not changed. If Pakistan which is 95% muslim are acquiring and accepting hardware from the United States, nobody in a Nigeria split down the middle between muslims and christians has any right to seek to prevent the FG from doing same.

After all, the International Military Education and Training programmes have seen christian and muslim military officers gleefully receiving training in America and nobody raised a whimper. Neither did anybody outside the Niger Delta raise a dissenting voice when the FG acquired RBS Defender river gunboats for counterinsurgency operations and facilities protection in the Niger Delta. So there is nothing new about this.

It is with a view to avoiding allegations of skulduggery steeped in Christian-Muslim rivalry that the Nigerian FG has been training officers and men in Israel and Pakistan concurrently – the balancing act, knowing fully well that Nigerians always have too much to say.

Please, the Nigerian Armed Forces could do with US approval for the sale or transfer of the following Excess Defence Articles.

If they say that we should not attack, we can at least ask for defensive items as listed above.”

II.

Excerpts

IF the human rights activists mount pressure on the US government not to supply offensive weapons such as the Apache attack helicopter, ostensibly so as not to be seen as fanning the embers of conflict, they can at least supply the following systems with justification as given herefater;

I doubt that even the most recalcitrant activists would have anything to say against these reasons.

The temptation to put troops on the ground should be avoided at all cost. It would attract extremists from Sudan, Algeria and Mali into the theatre. The accessibility and historical mingling of peoples in these areas has already set a precedent. Somewhere online, we once posted photos of Libyan settlers around oases and sand dunes in Yusufari LGA of Yobe State, Nigeria.

By the same token, it would not be difficult for AQIM fighters and Gaddafi loyalists or Janjaweed to converge on the Far Northeast for a jihad.

All too often, foreign policy advisers forget that there are indigenous Shuwa Arabs who are natives of Borno and Yobe States of Nigeria. Visit Baga, Geidam, Ngala, Banki, Bama etc and see what we mean. They are a branch of the Baqqara Arabs who are present in the adjoining Diffa Prefecture of Niger, in Chad, northern Central African Republic and in the Kordofanian and Darfuri(read, Murahlin and Misseriya Arabs)states of Sudan. All of the foregoing are conflict zones which are awash with arms. By the time that they begin to slip into NE Nigeria and swell the ranks of their Shuwa Arab cousins, neither language nor physical features would readily give them away as foreigners.

The USA only need to provide support with defensive hardware as specified above, intelligence sharing and training in counterterrorism. That would do nicely.

Finally, the FG need to step back from the timid steps which she is currently taking. We have suffered enough on account of the frugality of our Finance Minister and CBN Governor. The next phase of insecurity is looking like it is going to be an existential threat for Nigeria if allowed to crystallise. Did someone predict the breakup of Nigeria in 2015 a few years ago? Are the FG going to put a seal of approval on that by continuing to hide behind competing demands to shortchange its own military as far as resourcing is concerned? We are just saving like crazed maniacs whereas the threats which tug at the heartstrings of Nigeria continue to flourish?

Defence equipment is not and CANNOT be made the sacrificial lamb for Nigeria’s infrastructure development pursuits – not when the cumulative federal, states and local government budgets ensure that Health, Education, Food and Infrastructure are 33 TIMES beter funded than national defence. Not when the nation has stashed away US$45bn in Forex Reserves and US$10bn in the Excess Crude Account. Can somebody at that level show Nigerians that there is a strategic vision of the shape which the nation’s military needs to be in?

We have an insurgency at home which is intertwined with another in a neighbouring state – Mali. As we speak, we have seen a particular fixation on the part of Boko Haram with attacking soft-skinned 4WD vehicles. That has a remedy. Even the Indian Army knew this from Kashmir and reached out for Casspir MRAPs to be used for CTCOIN operations.

It might take six months of drone strikes and an outlay of $250 million to dismember this country. How come Nigeria from her cumulative budgets of US$80bn and US$55bn in savings cannot find US$1.25 bn with which to cement her unity? Hmn..na laff e dey catch monkey.

We are still fooling around with loose talk about competing demands at a time when terrorists are abducting infrastructure (road construction) workers of foreign extraction?

Algeria have underground railway systems in provincial cities yet they have five squadrons of MiG 29s and Su-30s, T90 tanks, eight squadrons of Mil transport helicopters and four squadrons of Mil attack helicopters? Since when has the quest for infrastructure become an automatic death knell for defence procurement?

At the height of the Niger Delta gunboat wars, the FG drew up a US$3 billion shopping list. At least, it shows the realisation that defence is not cheap and that we can jettison loose talk about competing demands and fund military procurement by spending big money when the arises.

We now need US$1.25bn to comprehensively prepare the military for asymmetric and conventional warfare.The FG should show us its spine and foster the national interest which it swore to defend, FOR ONCE…Christ !!

– eight units of surplus Su-27s($100m) and four new units of Su-30s($200m)

– two new Daewoo Makassar LPDs $100m

– one new Type 054 frigate $230m

– three new Type 054 corvettes $225m

– three new upgunned Damen 8313 OPVs $70m

America have been one of very few staunch supporters of Nigeria since the Boko Haram madness commenced. I have a gut feeling that this is a way of ‘helping a buddy fix a problem’ but the idea of drone strikes is one which is likely to cost the lives of many Nigerians and Americans and be the precursor to the demise of the Nigerian Federation. I affirm that the USA have by a long stretch been the most supportive of all the nations of the earth in our counterinsurgency and counterpiracy operations.

The USA have assisted with special warfare training, combat engineer training, K9 team training, partnered to deliver five solid coastal radar stations in conjunction with the FG and provided patrol ships in support, as a succession of historically visionless regimes refused to do what they are sworn to do as the foremost business of governance – provide physical security and the allied infrastructure by way of routes to the attainment of ends. They always have a sleek reason why they never have enough money to retool the military but forked out US$12bn in two equal instalments to write off our national debt.

They never tire to save for a rainy day whereas the Nunc Dimitis of the Nigerian Federation is about to be written, if a well-meaning and possibly exasperated USA go ahead with this plan – to help itself and to help our government which has apparently forgotten how to prioritise as it governs.

Who are they impressing with all the endless hot air about competing demands – which is more important..consolidating the unity of the country or pursuing projects which may not be completed in the name of this ONE Nigeria as presently constituted?

The problem is not GEJ sometimes Bcos he has shown some commitment but our generals need be more vibrant in thier approach to national issues. Lets kindly forget our reasoning that niger is a soverign state and can do what she wants, down tool military tactics n politicking would have bn exercised to prevent any US drone unit in niger. Victor malu long ago demonstrated what i mean evn if it was in nigeria. Russian warned georgia, poland and others if evntually US missile shield is sited in thier territory so what stops us exploring all opportunities to prevent this opression. Can someone pls educate me where this scenario has led to any success in the world, pls do bcos i knw there is danger looming soon, US must be told now hence warning too late might be detrimental to our nation. Nig played some games in the past by giving E guinea a river town class boat so why allowing this nonsence close to us. Re we saying if SA is siting a drone unit in chad d nigerian govt will sit by and watch, no way i bliv such locations will be bombed. Without delay so why d leg dragging. From rescue missions to clandestine ops then pocket intel cells and so on and so forth. Russian diplomat made a statement recently and it got me wandering, he said NIGERIA IS TOO BIG TO ASK FOR ASSISTANCE.

You and I know very well, G8Nigeria, that this US drone base in Niger would be ‘US territory’. You are not suggesting that the NAF bomb a US military base outside our territory. What would the USA say about that – an act of war ala Pear Harbour?

With South Africa, it is a different kettle of fish. ECOWAS, Lake Chad Basin Commission, Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission and so many other chinks in the armour can be deployed – Governors and Emirs of the Far North states,financial inducement, stifling the free movement of goods and persons which is all-important to Niger with her estimated 2million-strong community in Nigeria.

With America, Niger actually seek to draw closer to a potential benefactor and the benefit of having a quasi-guarantor of her security. If they could open that drone base in Niger with France watching, there is little that we could have done to prevent its opening.

i disagree if GEJ wasnt a weak president,dat would hav not be possiblie,a con3 whos economy depend full on nigeria includin food and finacial aid dis is purely backstabbin.hw i wish our general can be proactive

How dependent is Niger on Nigeria first question, then are you aware that there are financial benefits to Niger for the base ? Finally let us be very pragmatic, i see a lot of sentiment in the comments on this Issue of the U.S drone base deployment as very divisive,if you cannot handle your shit, and now your shit is spilling into other people backyards, why do you think other people will not eventually handle your shit for you ?

In my view, this matter has some fairly obvious solutions, which unless our country’s center is completely clueless, they should already be on to, and I want to believe that they are. Given the dangerous and far reaching implications of a direct incursion and attack by US or other western aircraft on any targets in the North, the government must know that it has to:

1) Engage diplomatically at the highest levels with the US (we have a bi-national commission, no?) to ensure that no drone flights (armed or not) are conducted into Nigerian airspace.
2) Ensure that detection and interception protocols are upgraded to maximum effectiveness, preferably using eastern technology (to underscore seriousness and sovereignty). This should be prioritised in the North, and gradually rolled out nationwide.
3) Procure modern UAV systems for our own surveillance and increase western (US) cooperation in the area of intelligence fusion (their core competence).
4) Procure frontline military hardware of the sort that signals intent, not ‘broda dash me’ type equipment. Air superiority fighters, multi-role fighters, cruise missile defense, etc come to mind.
5) Escalate covert operations on BH and its allies using the output of our fusion centers, making BH membership or even remote association an extremely deleterious prospect.
6) Overhaul the surveillance of boundaries and border crossings, and for crying out loud, institute an effective national identity management system (for once in our national life!).

If Abuja isn’t already on top of these, I pray that 2015 will come and go, and Naija will maintain.

sorry computer issues
Even if we had the most pro active procurement security wise administration we need to take a chill pill .Niger is a sovereign state they can do what they believe is in their own best security interest ,cameroon, benin, chad who has a significant FRENCH presence on our doorstep and now Niger. The ineptitude is not only consigned to Nigeria we have seen how we have struggled to get the basic necessary miltary upgrades and yet BE IT ANY COUNTRY IN AFRICA INCLUDING Nigeria THEY REFUSE HENCE THE VACUUM.
Nigeria god bless can continue to behave like the senior brother who wants no part of the responsibility but wants all the first benefits these . are the repercussions, we have said continuously that Nigeria needs to take it’s security issues very serious they are not, STAY TUNED